MADRID, Spain — The political party Iustitia Europa has filed a formal complaint with Spain’s Central Electoral Board, alleging that the expedited naturalization of foreigners under the so-called “Grandchildren’s Law” constitutes a deliberate manipulation of the national electoral census. The legal action seeks urgent intervention to audit the registration process of new citizens residing abroad, raising concerns about the integrity of the upcoming general elections.
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Luis María Pardo, the president and lead attorney of Iustitia Europa, announced the filing of the complaint and the request for urgent action, arguing that the government is artificially inflating the electoral roll through the Absent Resident Voters system, commonly known as the CERA vote. The party is demanding immediate measures to scrutinize the criteria and documentary evidence used to assign overseas residents to specific provincial electoral districts. Under current regulations, individuals who acquire Spanish nationality through this legislation have the flexibility to choose the electoral district in which they register. Pardo argues that this mechanism could significantly alter election outcomes, particularly in less populated provinces that are highly sensitive to the sudden influx of new voters.
To justify the complaint, the party invokes the supervisory functions granted to the electoral administration under Article 8 of the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime, alongside the statutory obligations of the Electoral Census Office. Party leadership has warned that artificially expanding the census through this naturalization pathway could facilitate electoral fraud, emphasizing that their legal challenge is focused on safeguarding democratic transparency rather than promoting political conspiracies.
#URGENTE. DENUNCIAMOS LA LEY DE NIETOS DE SÁNCHEZ
— Luis María Pardo (@LMPardoAbogado) June 29, 2026
👉 Ante la inacción de los políticos, desde @IustitiaEuropa presentamos una denuncia y una solicitud de actuación urgente ante la Junta Electoral Central.
👉 No podemos permitir que el Gobierno manipule el censo electoral… pic.twitter.com/46vMhbnPk4
The controversy centers on the Grandchildren’s Law, an additional provision of the Democratic Memory Law that entered into force in 2022. The legislation allows individuals born outside of Spain to parents or grandparents who were originally Spanish and forced into exile for political reasons—primarily those fleeing the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent Francoist dictatorship—to claim Spanish nationality.
The scale of the naturalization process is massive, with more than two million foreigners currently navigating the administrative procedures to obtain Spanish citizenship. According to the latest data provided by the government, Spanish consulates are actively processing 1,064,131 applications from interested foreigners. An additional 1,389,194 applications were submitted before the official deadline and are awaiting review, while nearly half a million requests have already been formally approved.
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As the Central Electoral Board reviews the complaint, the debate over the intersection of historical memory legislation and electoral integrity continues to intensify across the country.
